Pooping and Hailing Hydra

First of all, my summer brother (which is what I'm calling my roommate's brother who is here for the summer) is really good at hacking my facebook.  The other night, he did it without my roommate even noticing.  It's probably because I'm not really consistent in which device I use to access it.  So, if anyone has any really good ideas for hacking back, let me know.  (We've ruled out changing profile pictures and bodily function or 1D lyrics posts as not being epic enough.  My roommate and I agree that "Sometimes I give myself the creeps," and "Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me" are both good ones.)

Now for the Sunday-related posts.
Last week, I put off planning for both Singing Time and my talk for sacrament meeting.  Which made Saturday pretty interesting.  It worked out well, though.

Sacrament Talk
My assignment was 15 minutes on the meaning of the sacrament and how to prepare.  I had a nice quote from True to the Faith all set and ready to go about Christ instituting the practice during his lifetime, but then I went and left my copy by my chair.  Sister P (who furnishes me with rides that sometimes benefit her and sometimes benefit me) laughed about that when I told her on the way home.  So I kind of stumbled through my intro and talked a little bit about the meaning of the ordinance, focusing on how it's a renewal of the covenants we've made.

I read Mosiah 18:8-10 and singled out some of the promises we make and some that are made to us by God.  Because we often use the phrase "baptismal covenants," but far less often do we talk about what those actually are.  I also wanted to break it down a little more because one of our Primary kids had been baptized and confirmed the night before.  One thing I learned in all the years I did temple baptisms in the YSA wards was that immersion is easier by squatting than trying to be "dipped" (like in dancing), and because he was so scared of the water, I wish I had said something about that, but I didn't want to talk over the encouragement of his mom and grandma.

Anyway, after I covered the covenants, which took less than five of my fifteen allotted minutes (I started at exactly :30, which made gauging my time a breeze), I read some verses from 3 Nephi 18 that used the wording "and they were filled."  I had mentioned the assignment to one of my coworkers, and she had said that she had been taught to take the communion on an empty stomach, and it occurred to me that the Nephites weren't necessarily filled in a physical sense, but definitely in a spiritual sense.

I transitioned into talking about preparing for the sacrament by saying I wanted to spend most of my time on that because it's different for everyone, and I wanted to give people options and inspire them to find something that works for them.  I mentioned that the talk I was given to launch my preparations quoted Elder Holland.  "One of the invitations inherent in the sacramental ordinance is that it be a truly spiritual experience, a holy communion, a renewal for the soul."  I said that I wanted to present a myriad of ways that we could make it that way for ourselves.  Every week.

I also shared the story that M. Russell Ballard's story shared at the funeral of L. Tom Perry earlier this month.  Quoting the latter:

Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world.  Everything depends on Him.  We'd better find a way to stay close to Him....When [every member] took the bread, they ask themselves: Who am I?  What am I doing?  How am I living? as they renew their covenants with the Lord.  The minute they'd pick up that bread, something happens.  That brain of theirs turns them to the Savior.

  Then, in no coherent order, I gave them some things that I had done because things lose their effectiveness on me over time, and some things that were on my list of things to try because I know other people have found them effective.
"Sister T. doesn't know it, but sometimes I play a game with her.  As she's playing the prelude music before sacrament meeting, I try to figure out what song she's playing and then look it up in the index of the hymnal.  If I win and get to it before she starts playing the next one, I get to read the words of the song.  I also sometimes keep the hymnal open to the sacrament hymn while it's being passed to keep me focused on the Savior."  I mentioned journaling and reading patriarchal blessing (I think I mentioned it, anyway...it's in my notes) as things have done.  Also reading the sacramental prayers in the scriptures or other scriptures about Atonement have been effective.  I talked about how, at one point in my life, I had spent time thinking about ways that I had not lived up to my covenants and looked ahead to the next week to make plans on trying to be better about that.  I intended to mention gazing at the sacramental table and pondering the symbolism of it.  (Go here for many ideas.)  However, I didn't.  Guess it wasn't necessary.

Something that was necessary, though, was a bit of a confession about how important partaking of the sacrament is to me.  "There was a time in my life when, for very personal reasons, it was very difficult for me to go to church.  For about a month, I would literally come only for the sacrament.  Not even the whole meeting.  I would sneak in, either just on time or a few minutes late, sit in the very back, and as soon as the sacrament was done being passed, I would sneak right back out and go home."  I didn't say when or why I made those choices, but, again, I didn't have to.  I did, however, explain that the reason I did so was because the sacrament was important to me.  Because the sacrament is a renewal of our covenants, it's not just a renewal of our promises to the Lord.  It is also a renewal of the promises He has made with us.  And I needed that renewal, especially when times were that difficult.  I didn't share this, but when people at church were giving me an excuse to allow myself to believe that I am worthless, I needed a reminder that the Lord didn't agree with that.  That, to Him, I am worth everything.  And the sacrament does that.  It reminds me that Jesus Christ died for me.  Because He loves me.  He not only wants me to spend eternity with Him, but He wants to spend it with me.

I ended my talk with a promise that the Lord will keep His covenants with us.  The sacrament reminds us of that.  I also promised that, as we put forth effort into making the ordinance meaningful for ourselves, it will become more meaningful.  It will provide us with that renewal for our soul.

I must have been effective because Brother G came and sought me out in the Primary room after sacrament meeting to tell me he appreciated my talk.  Also, after Relief Society, one of the sisters pulled me aside, complimented me, and said that the Gospel Doctrine teacher referenced my talk by pretty much introducing her lesson by saying, "Think about Sister Seashmore's talk.  Now, our lesson picks up where she left off."  Then the Gospel Doctrine teacher also told me the same thing afterwards.  And the stake high council visitor said during his talk that he had planned to use the same quote that I used from Elder Perry.

Primary
I did a lot more singing myself than I normally do.  I pretty much made the song 105 into a case study.  I sang a couple of lines and then asked the kids (Jr and Sr) questions about it.
What does the Holy Ghost do for us?  Who does this gift come from?
How does the Holy Spirit speak to us?  What does it tell us?  How does it make us feel?  (Then I said that, even when the Holy Ghost is telling me that I've done something wrong, it also tells me that I can be forgiven, which makes me rejoice.  At least, I started saying that.  The girl we had visiting beat me to the punch, which I am always okay with.)
How and when do we receive the Holy Ghost?
What will I do when I am faced with a choice?  I kind of flubbed a little bit on this one.  I told them all that I would try my best to make the right choice.  I should have asked them what they would do.  I managed to tie it in with the first speaker from sacrament meeting, who talked about a game she played last week at Girl's Camp about agency and making choices before you're faced with them.

At least one kid gets it, though.  (Not through anything I've said or done, though.)  His mom shared a story in Relief Society about how their ball games had been rained out and rescheduled for Sunday.  She and her husband were dreading presenting the choice to their wise seven year old.  However, he never even gave them the chance.  They told him when the games were rescheduled for, and he asked, "Don't they know people go to church and won't be there?"  Before his slightly dumbfounded parents could answer him, he said, "We aren't going to be there."  His mom was glad he had made the choice, because she had honestly not been 100% sure what to choose.

The more interactive part of Singing Time was less effective than I had hoped it would be, but that's okay.  It was something I had thought of while at a women's meeting on June 5th.  One of the sisters speaking (Sister Durham of either the General Young Women's or Primary board) began humming and had told us all to stand and sing when we recognized the song.  So I thought I would try it with the Primary to see how well they knew our program songs.  They weren't as interactive about it as I anticipated, nor did they know the songs as well as I had hoped they would.  The activity might work better for introducing a new song than to review ones we've already learned.

And nursery was super duper amazing!  There's a little girl who is close enough to 18 months and ready for nursery, and I really think her awareness for music and learning is rubbing off on one of the boys.  And the other boy is old enough to start wanting to be engaged a little more.  Super!